golfnutintib

Thought I would ask those RL members in the know...

The beloved Mezger engines in our 996/997 GT3's -- if they are well/properly maintained, how long should they be able to operate without major issues or need for engine rebuilds?

The reality is that 996 and early 997 GT3's have been out there for around 8-9-10+years now...some are accumulating fairly high miles on their odometers.

These cars, being what they are, are rarely DD'ed, so when they ARE driven, they are DRIVEN HARD, and very often tracked. While the engines are certainly built for this kind of use by PAG, with good oiling systems, etc etc, is it a fair expectation that with diligent oil changes, clutch replacements, spark plugs changes etc etc, that they will continue to operate trouble free over 40-50-60-70-80k miles and up? Or at some point in the car's life cycle should an owner expect a more major, extensive engine rebuild?

We have all heard the stories of older 911's with multi 6 digit miles on their clocks...but I would suggest these are DD'ed vehicles mostly. The GT3 is a different beast, built for a different purpose...

This is all assuming, of course, that there are no significant abuses of the engine, e.g. serious over revs, poor maintenance, etc etc...

Informed opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

NAM VET

well, my own '07 GT3, with excellent maintainence since new, four DE's early on, no over-revs at all, now at 30K miles, just developed some sort of left bank problem a thousand miles from home, perhaps with the valve train, although no codes, so it may be much more serious, now has the engine out in KC.

My own experience is thus far pretty discouraging. And going to be expensive.

Just one of those things that can happen to any motor.

You pays your money, you takes your chances.

A Mezgar has moving parts, hence it can fail.

all the best....

mooty

200+ track hours
may even b 250

Evolved Rs

Fwiw. 32k miles with plenty track time from previous owner. A range 4 over rev about 300ish hours ago. Recent oil analysis came back stating below average wear.

runet

This thread from Pistonheads was excellent when it started, but due to a couple of people showing bad forum attitude the OP removed his extremely informative first post. Still there is quite a bit of information on the subject if one reads the whole thread as it is now, and the OP (fioranO) came back again with a few more posts later on:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/t...ngine%29&mid=0


As expected longevity will depend on maintanance (oil changes in particular) and usage (track) but it seems that these engines can be opened up and overhauled by replacing parts designed to be consumed (bearings as an example) without having to swap the expensive main items (pistons, liners, crank etc). Milage will vary, but it seems to indicate that a car with mixed use between road and track will benefit from a "low-cost" rebuild around 80-100k miles.
As we all know these engines will continue to run nicely even with heavy wear, wich is nice but may also hide the engines need for a refresh compared to other engine designs.
All engines wear. The bulletproof label of the Mezger does not mean it doesn't wear inside, just that it will most likely never stop working no matter how bad it's treated.

Izzone

They stop working eventually

And when they do it is a $30k bill

I'd be very cautious buying one not knowing the history..but it's getting harder to do

My race shop recommends opening all motors with unknown history..bearings are cheap..case/ heads / crank are not

Juha Pussinen

hello,

I own 2007 GT3 MK1, and no any issues in motor..knok knok wood

SOme issues have been ..suspension,breaks,ect..but nothing major..I use it DD drive around 8-10 months year..every day.NO tracked yet but driving hard every weekend in autobanh..I live in germany,near Munich and autobanh are no limits here..so good to "clean engine" pushing little bit.
no over revs,last service 70tkm,no any faults codes.

SO i think is last long..just keep oil in good level and maintain hole car weekly basis.

br.Juha P,Munich,DE

Runner

I bought my 07 GT3 in January this year with 39K miles on it. Had 6 previous owners and today it stands at 45K miles. I have no clue how it was treated in its prior life, but it runs very smooth and strong. I will drive this car as much as possible. Take the kid to practice, school, grocery shopping....whatever, sometimes I just get in the car and drive. Fridays are the best because it is "casual" and that is when I drive to corporate office which is a 150 mile round trip. I will track this car about 7 times annually.

For me, this car is not an investment, but a life long hobby. It is a keeper for sure. IMO...its perfect. I take it to my "trusted" Porsche technician as much as possible for check-ups; especially before and after a track weekend. Preventive maintenance adds up, but it is cost of owning these cars. For me, this is also part of the enjoyment of owning a GT3.

When the car hits 60 or 80K, might consider a rebuild or maybe a 3.9 upgrade; I've a dream of doing that someday. Anyway, I'm working on a savings for doing something major someday, who knows when that time will be. Best advise is to plan for it.

SSTHO

OP - was planning to do 4.1 upgrade to the car around 70k miles. With my usage, 5-7 trackdays per year, driving at my pace, a lot of highway and some city traffic, and always with preventative maintenece, on fluids/consumables, I have no doubt it'll make it there without issue.

Not sure about your 7.1s. Hope tcsracing1 can chime in here. Most mileage and diverse use on 7.1 RS that I know of.

golfnutintib

Thanks to all for inputs, esp Mooty SSTHO and Runet... very helpful...yes thinking 3.9 or 4.1 upgrades for higher mileage units when time comes. Sharky mentioned about $18K for full-on preventative engine refresh, that's along way towards the bore-out upgrade ($38K for 3.9)...

F1CrazyDriver

Try Sonnen Porsche if you want to do a "refresh" i suspect that $ will be much smaller. I.e. R&R guards differential is sub $1,000 in labor + fluids

That said, I drove my prior metzger motor to 96k miles. 0 motor issues. Drove DD + track + weekend. Current owner is friend and he has 0 issues with motor and he keeps tracking + DD, sitting at 100k+ miles. There is a member on the turbo side who has something silly like 400k miles ?

Current 3, at 35k miles. 0 issues.

EntityX has 5xk miles and 0 issues on his metzger.

IMO some of you guys over think things and are worry worms.

Ur20v

^^^this, worry not- just service regularly with plenty of fresh good quality oil.

golfnutintib

not at all about 'worry'... i don't worry about much in life, much less about my toys
this is just about having a picture of what may be coming in up what time frame
i love these cars and just prefer to have some clear expectations in owning them, which i plan to do for quite some time

Ur20v

you will never get the 'clear picture' you are after, to many variables etc. Any engine can blow between 0 and a million plus miles- to few data points to give you a meaningful bell curve you are after.

Jay

mooty

LMAO dont u have like 6 or 7 spare 997gt3?
i may have to borrow an engine from you.